How to live till you're 100 years old

What is the secret recipie to living a healthy, long life which could last at least a century? It’s a question to which people tried to find an answer during more than thousand years.

In Sradinia (Italy) and Okinawa (Japan) there ar high numbers of people who are more than 100 years old. Is the so praised diet the reason fot the almost imortality of these people? No, there isn’t.

Studies have shown they share a mild climate (in Okinawa, the temperature hovers around 20ºC all year) and, in regions that experience extreme temperatures, the very young and the elderly can really suffer. In both these places, those who reach the age of 80 survive for much longer.

According to some studies, the argument of a mild climate could add an extra three years to your life.

An aspect of your imviroment which doesn’t increase your long-living-rate is the stress of mess, muddle and chaos. Piles of dusty newspapers, old clothes and disorganised financial documents could lead to a high blood pressure, which is a skilled killer nowadays.

The facts bellow are presented in Dr. Trisha Macnair’s book, "The Long Life Equation".

After studing a number of patients, Macnair got to the conclusion that "happier people are more likely to exercise and have friends and family around to help when things go wrong".

Trisha Macnair got to the conclusion that we are living longer. Over the past 100 years, the average life expectancy has increased by two years every decade.

Geneticist Aubrey De Grey, from Cambridge University, thinks that ageing is, in fact, a disease wich can be cured. In fact, he wants us all to live to be 1.000 years old. He says the benefits of curing ageing are endless: "People won't get sick and will value life more, meaning we will work harder to prevent early deaths", he explains.

While De Grey works on his ageless society, Dr Macnair hopes we will all work on keeping our minds and body strong for old age but don't obsess about it (you'll lose two years). "We'll never know when the bus is going to come round the corner so all you can do is try to improve the odds in your favour”.

Here are some interesting facts from dr. Macnair’s book, "The long life equation":

Add one year for intelligence.
The Scottish Mental Health survey found people with a lower IQ had a higher risk of dying from lung and stomach cancer because they were more likely to smoke.

Add four years to your life for good sex.
People who orgasm twice a week are half as likely to die from heart disease. Women who don't have a fulfilling sex life because their partner suffers from premature ejaculation or impotence are more likely to have a heart attack.

Add two years for washing your hands.
Only half of us wash our hands after visiting a public toilet and fewer than one in ten doctors wash their hands between patients. Contact between people is the main way diseases spread.

Lose one year for noise exposure.
Your neighbour's all-nighters or the tick tock of your alarm clock may be annoying, but they are also bad for your health. Noise creates stress that puts the body into a state of raised alert and even when you sleep, your brain and body continues to respond to sounds and pumps out stress hormones.